Analyzing THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW album cover
Songs are linked
From being pirates to cowboys, in every universe ATEEZ has one goal: prevent the government from succeeding in its endeavors of converting citizens into mindless-emotionless beings.
THE WORLD EP.2: OUTLAW is the 2nd album to the trilogy of albums ATEEZ has released over the years, is no different. Each physical album has a story in the back to further the fans understanding of the world they live in, but the music videos force and to come up with their own theories. The album opener, ‘This World’, sets the tone of the story.
Now, can’t you see the truth?
You need the darkness to step out the darkness
Sometimes it’s cruel
The bare face of the truth
Shake me and test me
What are you trying to protect?
What are you trying to change?
I’m ready for the dark
I’m read for this world
When it comes to ‘This World’, it has the best connection to the album cover. It’s as if the listener is looking up to the sky, surrounded by the barriers of government, trapped in this emotionless city. But in the dead middle, ATEEZ’s logo is there, almost like a batman signal. It’s like it’s a sign that they are with you and trying to free you from society. The whole purpose of this music is to defy societal norms and paving their own path; hence, the album being called Outlaw (a song in the album as well). They move with stealth and precision to destroy the government and cause anarchy.
Each album has its title track, for this album it’s BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILI PEPPERS). Every title track comes with a music video and the concept for this was Western-themed. The eight of them are split into pair to gather intel, each with their own roles , and they work together to start a revolution:
Mingi and Hongjoong: Cowboys
Seonghwa and Yeosang: Bikers
Jongho and Yunho: Undercover cops
A big part of the song Bouncy is line “Cheongyang gochu vibe”:Cheongyang, a county in South Chungcheong Province in South Korea and gochu, meaning chili pepper. The Cheongyang chili pepper is known for it’s spice and heat, with an average of 10,000 Scoville heat units. They use this line both to say they are bringing new kind of spice to their fictional universe but also to tell the people that they are bringing a new kind of spice to K-POP. Although, when they debuted, being from the small company, KQ, ATEEZ received a lot of mistreatment compared their peers in the big 4 companies: HYBE (previously BigHit), SM, YG, and JYP.
Not only are they trying to defy the government in their story line, but the eight of them are defying the norm in real life. Nobody expected a group like them to thrive the way they do. DJANGO, the lyrics shown in the very beginning, is a song that can be interpreted in a way that shows how they feel in real life and in this fictional world. In Mingi’s verses, he raps about how they set the culture and how they are the underdogs. As previously mentioned, they didn’t have the money to make live performance companies like MAMA and Music Bank care about them.
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This meant if they had a chance to perform, it was cut short so famous groups could perform their full song. However, this disadvantage didn’t stop people from noticing their unique concepts and music. They were often plagiarized and still are today. In relation to their story line, they are sunset outlaws. Sunset Outlaws in this scenario refers to the main character in DJANGO, Django Freeman. After being freed from slavery him and Dr. King Schultz go around hunting the most wanted criminals as well as rescuing his wife. He fought like their is no tomorrow and he only had today to live. With ATEEZ, they are doing the same thing in order to free all the people.
D-J-A-N-G-O (Watch out)
Get out of the way, all of you
I am the one who has no tomorrow
Sunset Outlaw
D-J-A-N-G-O
Get out of the way, all of you
I am the one who has no tomorrow
Outlaw of the sun (Hands Up)
Another way to interpret this album cover is the eye looking down at you, watching over your every move. Two songs that support this idea are ‘Wake Up’ and ‘Dune’.
Dune sounds like it belongs in movie with a dystopian setting . It has a strong chorus and vocals that give the impression of this impending doom:
I can still hear it, keep you head down
I’m out of breath here every day
I can’t escape it
The line “keep your head down” refers to the rule that citizens aren’t allowed to feel any sort of emotions. In dune, it feels no matter how hard they try there’s no hope in them escaping the government’s ruling. The song even ends in those lyrics give off the feeling that they did not overcome it.
Wake Up feels like they are making a second attempt at escaping. Like the eye in the sky reaching out to you and wants to guide you:
Do you hear my voice?
I’ll set you free
If you wanna know
Follow me, then you’ll see
Wake Up is very intense due to it being a rock song. But it gives that sense of urgency to it’s listeners to wake up and see the real world. It’s not what they think it is and they must find a way to break out of the norms and fight against unjust acts by the government. No matter how hard it gets they must keep going:
The boundaries of reality are mixed up
I will shake your heart and wake you up
Oh, breathing out of tempo
Oh, lost soul
Feel me in your subconscious
My voice will be resonating
Before the album and music video came out, a concept trailer was released. In the video the viewer sees Yeosang biking with the words ‘Blue Bird’ on the back of his jacket.
This refers back to their song HALAZIA which album cover displays a blue feather as a symbol of freedom. Now, the color blue is very significant to ATEEZ in general because it represents their main version, however red represents their alternative version, HALATEEZ. This version is more rebellious than ATEEZ. They originate from the Strictland and are a group of anarchist.
As you may notice, the album color is purple. From my interpretation of the lore, it seems like this album is a blend of the two. In their second album they created an all red album that introduced HALATEEZ. There was a song called HALA HALA (Hearts Awakened, Live Alive). In ‘Dune’, you can hear San sing HALA HALA in the first verse, meaning they have to be connected in some way. Considering the fact Hongjoong shot a government official and Mingi had a shoot out in the saloon, it’s clear that ATEEZ in this album started to resemble their alternative selves, or even it could be HALATEEZ in the music video. Things like this are left up to the fans to decide.
Overall, ATEEZ can be enjoyed by music alone! But if you are really into dissecting stories and trying to understand the meaning behind it all, I encourage you to give all their albums a listen. THE WORLD SERIES EP.1: MOVEMENT made me a fan, but this album especially BOUNCY’s music video made me a bigger one. I hope the same happens for you.
